I brought up Khashoggi murder with Saudi crown prince: Trump
US President Donald Trump says he raised the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“I did mention it to him very strongly,” Trump was quoted on Saturday by media as saying.
Khashoggi, who was a critic of bin Salman, was hacked to death and his body was dismembered at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2, 2018.
Last week, a UN report found that there was "sufficient credible evidence" to pin the murder on bin Salman and he should be investigated for it.
“That was a bad event,” Trump reportedly told bin Salman in the meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G-20) summit in Japan.
“I asked him what was happening,” Trump claimed.
Trump's comments came after the president told reporters on Friday that he was "extremely angry and very unhappy" about Khashoggi's murder, but claimed that "nobody has directly pointed a finger" at bin Salman.
Asked about CIA’s conclusion that bin Salman ordered the Khashoggi’s murdering, Trump said he “cannot comment on intelligence.”
“The truth is, I don’t want to talk about intelligence,” Trump said dodging further discussion about the Khashoggi murder.
Trump has played down the Khashoggi murder case, and instead, repeatedly cited the profits that the US economy reaps from maintaining good business relations with the Saudis, particularly the Crown Prince bin Slaman.
Trump has described the Saudi crown prince as a "friend”. “It's an honor to be with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, a friend of mine, a man who has really done things in the last five years in terms of opening up Saudi Arabia.”
Saudi Arabia is US arms dealers’ most important client and Washington’s number one ally in the Middle East.
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